Ordering startup and termination of containers

Abstract

A method is provided for asynchronous startup of containers within a group of containers orchestrated by an orchestrator, the method comprising receiving a request to instantiate a group of containers comprising a first container and a second container, where the second container will rely on a service run by the first container; instantiating the first container; instantiating the second container in the group, holding the second container in a waiting state, communicating the waiting state of the second container to the orchestrator;checking periodically for a flag from the first container; setting the flag in response to the first container running the service; and transitioning the second container to a running state, in response to the flag being set, and communicating the running state to the orchestrator.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for asynchronous startup of containers within a group of containers orchestrated by an orchestrator, the method comprising:
 receiving a request to instantiate a group of containers comprising a first container and a second container, where the second container will rely on a service run by the first container;   instantiating the first container;   instantiating the second container in the group and holding the second container in a waiting state,   communicating the waiting state of the second container to the orchestrator;   checking periodically for a flag from the first container;   setting the flag in response to the first container running the service; and   in response to the flag being set, transitioning the second container to a running state; and   communicating the running state to the orchestrator.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the orchestrator is a Kubernetes orchestrator, and the group of containers is a pod of containers. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the waiting state and running state are communicated to a kubelet in the pod. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first container is part of a data plane of a telecommunications network and the second container is part of a signaling plane of the telecommunications network. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the flag is a file stored in a shared volume accessible by the first container and the second container, and wherein checking the flag comprises reading from the file in the shared volume and setting the flag comprises writing the file to the shared volume. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the flag is a packet sent from the first container to the second container, and wherein checking the flag comprises sending a request from the second container to the first container, and wherein setting the flag comprises sending the packet from the first container to the second container. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the packet is sent from a first server in the first container to a second server in the second container. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the first server and the second server are hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) servers. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first container and the second container are instantiated on one of bare metal and a virtual machine. 
     
     
         10 . A method for asynchronous termination of containers within a group of containers orchestrated by an orchestrator, the method comprising:
 running a first container and a second container in the group of containers, where the second container relies on a service being run by the first container;   checking periodically for a flag from the second container in the group of containers;   transitioning a first container from a running state to a completed state, in response to the flag being set; and   communicating the completed state of the first container to the orchestrator.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the flag is set, in response to the second container entering a completed state. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the orchestrator is a Kubernetes orchestrator, and the group of containers is a pod of containers. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein completed state is communicated to a kubelet in the pod. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the first container is part of a data plane of a 5G telecommunications network, and the second container is part of a signaling plane of the 5G telecommunications network. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the first container and the second container form a session border controller (SBC) in the telecommunications network. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the second container enters a completed state when all calls registered to the SBC are finished. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the flag is a file stored in a shared volume accessible by the first container and the second container, and wherein checking the flag comprises reading from the file in the shared volume and setting the flag comprises writing the file to the shared volume. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the flag is a packet, and wherein checking the flag comprises sending a request from the first container to the second container, and wherein setting the flag comprises sending the packet from the second container to the first container. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the first container and the second container are instantiated on one of bare metal and a virtual machine. 
     
     
         20 . A communications network node comprising:
 a processor; and   a memory storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the communications network node to perform operations comprising:   receive a request to instantiate a group of containers comprising a first container and a second container, where the second container will rely on a service run by the first container, the group of containers orchestrated by an orchestrator;   instantiate the first container;   instantiate the second container in the group and hold the second container in a waiting state,   communicate the waiting state of the second container to the orchestrator;   check periodically for a flag from the first container;   set the flag in response to the first container running the service; and   transition the second container to a running state, in response to the flag being set; and   communicating the running state to the orchestrator.